Following the team with a unique perspective on all things Phillies.Email me: PhilliesPhollowers@comcast.net – Peace, Love & Baseball – Jenn

Phillies Wait Until Last Second to Call Off Saturday’s Game

To recap the recent Phillies hurricane horrors: On Thursday, it wasannounced that Sunday’s Phillies – Marlins game would be moved to Saturday afternoon as part of a day/night doubleheader at 1:05pm. But as the weather forecast got uglier, the Phillies re-scheduled the Saturday night game to Thursday, September 15. But they still insisted that the day game would go on.

And then today, the forecast got worse again. But this time, the Phillies did not act promptly. This time, they screwed up….a lot.

Granted, the Phillies cannot predict the weather. And on his 1210 radio show earlier today, Seth Everettmade that point. However, he also scolded angry fans for driving to the game, which he felt would never get played today, because they could have looked at a radar map. Really? So if we could look at a radar map at 8:00am and decide not to go, why couldn’t the Phillies look at the same map and call the game off?

Because I live two hours away, I made the drive. I figured I had a 50/50 chance at seeing a game. I am not a meteorologist, so I had to give it a shot. Because if the game was played and I stayed home, I lose the money I paid for the ticket. Not cool.

So I chose to drive and stopped repeatedly to check in with all of the media outlets on Twitter, which Mr. Everett also suggested. Not one media person on Twitter had any official information on the game being cancelled. And during my two hour drive, the weather looked okay.

Again, the Phillies had the same radar I had to look at. But I understand them attempting to get the game in. I just do not understand why, after it had been steady raining for hours, they waited so long to call it off.

If I lived closer, I could have waited to see what the weather was like and probably would not have gone. But a two hour drive makes waiting to the last minute impossible, unless I am willing to risk losing the ticket.

I feel like the Phillies should have acted faster and cancelled the game way earlier or even played a double-header on Friday. Instead, they waited until 10 minutes after the scheduled start time to announce it was cancelled so the 12,000 fans (a Phillies estimate on attendance) who did show up had sat around for hours for nothing. And the boo’s rained down on the Phillies front office, along with the hurricane, as fans exited the building.

Adding insult to injury, both of the last two Sunday games have now been re-scheduled for daytime weekday games. Most fans, like me, who have the Sunday season ticket plan chose that for a reason. because we have JOBS during the week to go to. Now we have TWO weekday day games that most of us cannot attend because we have to work.

Seriously, I am thoroughly disgusted. Today’s game, which was supposed to be Sunday’s game, is now re-scheduled for Thursday, September 15 at 2:35pm as part of a day/night doubleheader.

Mr. Everett also had a suggestion for this issue. He says you should sell your tickets on StubHub and make a profit. Excuse me, Mr. Everett, but this is not a solution for me. Because I have a solo ticket plan and very few people will buy a single ticket. I have tried to sell them in the past at face value, not even for profit, and had NO success.

So I either have to eat the money for TWO games now or call out of work. Neither of these options are good ones.

I get that you cannot make everyone happy. If they change the September 20th 1:05pm game to a night game, some people who had the original Sunday, August 14th ticket will complain it is a night game. But the odds are very good that even more people are upset about it falling during a time when they have to work. Why can’t the Phillies go by the majority and schedule the previous Sunday game to a night game during the week?

Between the hurricane, the earthquake, school starting and all these missed games, my frustration level is through the roof. So thank you for enduring my rant. And if anyone would like to buy one ticket to either the 9/20 1:05pm game or the 9/5 2:35pm game, please feel free to e-mail me.

And if you also went to the non-game today, please share your story in the comment section. Thank-you :O)

5 Comments

I certainly understand your frustration. I’m not sure who makes the decision but whoever it was obviously was too hesitant to make the call. It really wasn’t a tough decision to make.

You definitely had to leave early to make the game if it was going to be played. As someone who lives a bit closer, I was pretty sure they weren’t going to start this game. Waiting until 10 minutes after the scheduled start to cancel the game was ludicrous. Why even go into a delay situation? Did somebody actually think the weather was going to improve enough to play this game once it didn’t start?

As far as the rescheduling, I don’t know what to say. It’s going to be a tough schedule now playing something like 32 games in 31 days, mostly on the road, provided there are no more postponements. It’s a good thing the Phillies have a little cushion to work off of with their record.

Yup…some people told me we can reuse the parking pass for the rescheduled game, but I can’t go to the rescheduled game so I am probably out the $15 too. I have heard also though that I may be able to exchange my tickets for a credit voucher which I can use next year. I am going to ry that and see what happens.

I didn’t drive as far, but i did come from Norristown, which is about an hour. I had to get a babysitter and drive thru the rain. Up till 5 minutes before start time, they were still saying they were having it, so to say to blame the fans is ignorant. I called up WIP and ripped the phils for it, i was very fired up about it. On the way out i asked if we could get a refund, this d!ck was like “NOPE, no refunds”, so him and like 10 other guards were protecting the stupid backpacks, i asked him for one since i wasn’t getting the funds, all i got was “Under 14 pal”, but it was said in a demeaning manner. Very ignorant, poor way to treat the fans.

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